RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) — Despite Republican assurances that North Carolina's "bathroom bill" isn't hurting the economy, the law limiting LGBT protections will cost the state more than $3.76 billion in lost business over a dozen years, according to an Associated Press analysis.

Over the past year, North Carolina has suffered financial hits ranging from scuttled plans for a PayPal facility that would have added an estimated $2.66 billion to the state's economy to a canceled Ringo Starr concert that deprived a town's amphitheater of about $33,000 in revenue. The blows have landed in the state's biggest cities as well as towns surrounding its flagship university, and from the mountains to the coast.

North Carolina could lose hundreds of millions more because the NCAA is avoiding the state, usually a favored host. The group is set to announce sites for various championships through 2022, and North Carolina won't be among them as long as the law is on the books. The NAACP also has initiated a national economic boycott.

On Monday, Missouri lawmakers voted to approve a bill that would make it dramatically more difficult for people to successfully sue their former employers for discriminatory wrongful termination.

The bill, SB43, would modify existing Missouri’s Human Rights Act legislation, and require plaintiffs prove that bias was the motivating, and not simply a contributing, factor in their firing—a much tougher legal hurdle to clear.

During Monday’s debate, Rep. Kevin Engler, a Republican, introduced an amendment to make it illegal to discriminate against people based on their sexual orientation and gender identity—something not currently on the state books.

But, for Engler’s fellow Republican Rick Brattin, discriminating against the LGBTQ community isn’t just a legal matter—it’s a universally held religious truism. Because, Brattin explained, “When you look at the tenets of religion, of the Bible, of the Qu’ran, of other religions, there is a distinction between homosexuality and just being a human being.”

Got that? There’s gay people, and then there’s “just being a human being.”

This is hardly Brattin’s first brush with ultra-conservative infamy. In 2014, he introduced legislation that would have required women to get the father of their unborn child’s written permission to have an abortion—except in cases of “legitimate rape.” He later clarified to Mother Jones that he meant “legitimate rape” to mean cases in which the victim had gone through proper administrative channels, explaining: “I’m just saying if there was a legitimate rape, you’re going to make a police report, just as if you were robbed. That’s just common sense.”

JAKARTA, Indonesia (AP) — A Shariah court in Indonesia’s conservative Aceh province has sentenced two gay men to public caning for the first time, further tarnishing the country’s moderate image after a top Christian politician was imprisoned for blasphemy.

The court on Wednesday said the men, aged 20 and 23, would each be subjected to 85 lashes for having sexual relations. One of the men cried as his sentence was read out and pleaded for leniency. The chief prosecutor, Gulmaini, who goes by one name, said they will be caned next week, before Ramadan starts on about May 25.

The couple was arrested in late March after neighborhood vigilantes in the provincial capital Banda Aceh suspected them of being gay and broke into their rented room to catch them having sex. Mobile phone footage that circulated online and formed part of the evidence shows one of the men naked and visibly distressed as he apparently calls for help on his cellphone. The second man is repeatedly pushed by another man who is preventing the couple from leaving the room.

International human rights groups have described the treatment of the men as abusive and humiliating and called for their immediate release. Human Rights Watch said in April that public caning would constitute torture under international law.

He was 22 when he entered Irish politics. At 27, he was elected to parliament. At 36, he publicly came out as gay. And now, at 38, Leo Varadkar, the son of an Indian immigrant father and an Irish mother, appears on course to become Ireland's next prime minister.

The young Dubliner, currently serving as Ireland's Minister for Social Protection, announced his campaign to succeed Taoiseach Enda Kenny, prime minister since 2011 and leader of the ruling Fine Gael party since 2002, shortly after Kenny announced he would be stepping down earlier this month.

Varadkar's only opponent is Housing Minister Simon Coveney, who hails from a family of Fine Gael stalwarts. While Coveney appeals to the party's more conservative membership outside of the capital city, many see Varadkar as a fresh face for urban voters while still appealing to the party's rural base.

Varadkar has managed to shore up the support of many of his fellow Fine Gael parliamentary members, whose say counts for 65% of the final vote; the party members and local politicians make up the other 35%. A decision is expected by June 2.

Although Varadkar appears to be a step away from traditional Irish politics, a check of his voting record and of his campaign, promises more of a makeover than an overhaul.

Danica Roem, a transgender woman and former journalist, beat out three challengers on Tuesday night to secure the Democratic nomination in what will inevitably be one of Virginia’s most-watched races this fall. The campaign to represent the state’s 13th District will put Roem, the first openly transgender candidate for the Virginia House of Delegates, up against longtime incumbent Bob Marshall—one of the state’s most anti-LGBT lawmakers.

Marshall, a delegate since 1992, was the author of the amendment that enshrined discrimination into the state’s constitution in 2006, by defining marriage as being between one man and one woman. Andwhen he ran, unsuccessfully, for USCongress in 2014, he was described by the Atlantic as “basically the culture war’s four-star general”—a profile he continues to live up to. In January, heintroduced what LGBT advocates described as one of the most dangerous bathroom bills in the country; the proposed legislation would have mimicked other bathroom bills across in country in forcing people to use the bathroom corresponding to their sex assigned at birth, but it also went a step further, requiring schools to out students to their parents within 24 hours if they asked “to be recognized or treated as the opposite sex.” When far-right conservatives held a news conference calling on GOP leadership to hold an up or down vote on the matter, a transgender man asked where they thought he should go to the bathroom. “Not here,” Marshall responded. Even the state’sGOP leadership didn’t want anything to do with the controversial proposal, and a Republican-led committee killed the bill.

“Let me make this really clear for you: When the people of the 13th District elect a transgender woman to replace the most anti-LGBT legislator in the South, it will be an act of certainty, and it will be a defining moment that will resonate across the country,” Roem said at an event in May, according to the Washington Blade.

Woods, 70, shared a photo of a couple with their son at the Orange County Pride Parade in California, bearing posters that read, “I love my gender creative son!” and “My son wears dresses & makeup… Get over it!!”

The Once Upon a Time in America actor wrote, “This is sweet. Wait until this poor kid grows up, realizes what you’ve done, and stuffs both of you dismembered into a freezer in the garage.”

Woods received a wave of backlash on Twitter, as well as criticism from Neil Patrick Harris, who responded with a tweet of his own.

“Utterly ignorant and classless, Mr. Woods,” the Gone Girl actor, 44, wrote. “I’m friends with this family. You know not of what you speak, and should be ashamed of yourself.”

San Diego Pride is this weekend and while some may think that Comic-Con holds the record as the city's the biggest draw for tourism, they're wrong. The average number of people Comic-Con has in attendance is 135,000, while San Diego Pride regularly has an attendance of at least 200,000 people.Source

After the 2015 U.S. Supreme Court ruling that made same-sex marriage legal in the country, Davis refused to issue marriage licenses. Citing her religious beliefs, she said she couldn’t in good conscience issue the licenses to same-sex couples, and also temporarily stopped issuing the licenses to straight couples, too. While Davis received national attention and shook hands with Kentucky elected officials such as Gov. Matt Bevin, multiple appeals were filed and the law found her in contempt of her duties

If Bradley Manning had stayed Bradley Manning, would he still be in prison? If Bradley Manning had stayed Bradley Manning, would he be basking in celebrity, enjoying fawning photo shoots? Given the magnitude of his crimes, I dare say that he’d be in prison today if he still identified as a man. Then he’d be nothing but what he actually is, a garden-variety traitor — a faithless soldier who should count himself fortunate not to face capital punishment.

Personally I don't think Caitlyn Jenner is faking being trans, mainly because I feel that having a non-normative gender identity or sexual orientation doesn't automatically make someone a good person. Every race, gender and minority have assholes, both litterally and figuratively.

However I'm not trans, so maybe I'm missing the point the activist is making here.

I'm pretty sure the criticism was that Jenner is being "a fake" (a fraud, a phony, a hypocrite)...

and not that she is a fake-trans who is faking being trans

Correct. A lot of transpeople are disgusted that she of all people is the most famous and currently celebrated transperson in the country. It's within Jenner's right to believe how she believes and associate with who she associates with, but she's also being rewarded and spoken of as if she's some kind of role model for the LGBT community and that pisses people off, myself included.

I gave Caitlyn the benefit of the doubt when she went public, but I have deep wells of anger for those who ally themselves with forces that threaten the well being of those in similar circumstances, minus the celebrity status and essential get-out-of-jail card.

When Clarence Williams reviewed his own security camera footage following a break-in while abroad, he caught the burglar in action and some choice antics from two of the District’s finest.

Initially, responding to Williams’ alarm, the police simply knock on the front door, wait a few seconds, and then leave.

Eight hours later, after a complaint filed by Williams’ neighbors over the broken back door, the police actually make an effort and force their way into the burgled home and then proceed to make light of the situation.

Those officers are the Seventh District’s Theodore Harvey, Jr. and Sanave Rolin.

They start off by listing what was stolen in a prior burglary using a mocking tone and then let loose some thin blue homophobia:

“Armani, Dolce and Gabbana…he is probably gay.”

After that, a female police officer dances not once, but twice–an apparent nod to outmoded and gendered slurs about gay men. The other officers look on and laugh at the seemingly homophobic display.

In an interview with the local NBC affiliate, Williams said, “I am feeling disillusioned. I am feeling upset.”

After reviewing the shocking footage, Williams filed an official complaint.

Just so you know, Iron Maiden...I wasn't trying to bust your chops by saying you don't post anything but bad stuff in this thread...I meant it was sad to see how much bad stuff there is compared to positive news. Your posts are very informative..

Just so you know, Iron Maiden...I wasn't trying to bust your chops by saying you don't post anything but bad stuff in this thread...I meant it was sad to see how much bad stuff there is compared to positive news. Your posts are very informative..

Oh, I didn't it take it that way at all, Fraid. Mostly thinking out loud here. I do try to share good news in various political threads here-and-there, just to remind myself that not everything is shitty nowadays, but this thread has been an exception lately.

A suburban library official was voted out of his position to applause from attendees at a village council meeting Tuesday night.

Art Jaros, a Downers Grove Public Library board member, reportedly made comments against homosexuality and tried to get a book banded from a high school because he did not agree with its content.

According to a report from the League of Women Voters, Jaros rejected “inclusion” training at the library and said “The Staff had to protect the children from homosexuals and exposure to homosexual life style.”

“He proceeded to continue to express his personal views on how we should view straight people vs. gays and reject any inclusion and people different from white straight people,” the report continues.

My first thought is that this is a little scary, but also that I'm not going to jump to any conclusions just yet since a 81% success rate for men and 75% success rate for women isn't great if they tested the algorithm on a sample population that represented a 95% straight, 5% gay split that is close to the real world's straight/gay population ratio. The AI would need to get above 95% accuracy otherwise it is isn't as accurate as an AI that simply always says the person in the photo is straight. However if they tested the algorithm on artificial population that had 50/50 straight/gay split then the results are really interesting. On one hand it proves it's not a choice, on the other hand it this could be a dangerous tool used for discrimination.

As worrying as this may be, I'm also fascinated and wonder how well the algorithm would work if they got a bunch of normal photos of people rather than ones those people selected to put on their dating profile. The features the algorithm tracks may simply be ones that the people posting those photos find attractive. I feel that the features gay people find attractive about their face would be different than the features straight people find attractive about their face. This would probably lead both groups to choose to post dating photos that exaggerate a different set of facial features.

In order to eliminate the possibility of the selection bias of their subjects, they need to get a large sample of photos of straight & openly gay* people that were not taken or chosen by the persons in the photos. It would be even better if they could make the people in the photos be as similar as possible when it comes to personal style, so the algorithm's results won't be influenced by their styling choices. Getting a large enough sample that fit this criteria would be extremely hard, because while I'm sure there are large databases of photos that fit this criteria (like a photo database of military recruits) those photos are not logged with the subject's sexual orientation and using them would also be violating the privacy of the people in the photos.

*I also secretly wonder how many of the straight people lied about being straight in their dating profile and what effect this has on the results.

Interesting. When the time comes, like when this technology is on the cusp of becoming readily available and we have an administration that isn't filled with dipshits, I suppose legislation could be pursued that would make the use of such an algorithm illegal.

It sounds like this person might have had some kind of episode and the cops did what they do. No indication that the cop in question had any motive related to the victim's identity, but we really, really need to encourage the use of non-lethals. This person did not need to die.

So the US representative at the United Nations refused to condemn the countries that use of the death penalty for people who've be caught having gay sex. The US was one of only thirteen other countries that refused to condemn this use of the death penalty. The Countries that voted no on the condemnation are Botswana, Burundi, Egypt, Ethiopia, Bangladesh, China, India, Iraq, Japan, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, the US and the United Arab Emirates. The countries where the death penalty is currently used to kill LGBT people are Iran, Saudi Arabia, Sudan, Yemen, Nigeria and Somalia.

And now the inevitable horse trading as the cons who insisted on this survey try to turn a loss into a win by shoe horning in lots of 'religious protections' into any change of law, to protect from erosions of religious freedom that are already protected against and to guard against slippery slopes that don't exist. That kind of thing.